Now that the recession is arguably over, direct marketing agencies are in an especially fortunate position. Given their efficiency and accountability, they're poised for success in the data driven digital marketing revolution — and business is finally beginning to grow, according to many agency heads.

To get at the heart of some of the challenges facing marketers when it comes to defining the best strategies and programs to drive marketing success, Direct Marketing News convened a select group of senior marketers in a closed-door roundtable discussion sponsored by Marketo.

Daily deals have become one of the hottest marketing stories around — but lately, they've been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. August proved the cruelest month for this darling of real-time marketing, with both Facebook and Yelp pulling the plug on their daily deals programs.

B-to-b marketers contend with an enormous amount of customer data coming into their organizations every day. Managing volumes of information located in various places within a company, coordinating sales and marketing teams and facing the dynamic rate at which b-to-b data decays, these marketers often have more steps to take than b-to-c marketers to make sure that their messages are relevant.

Despite big headlines around social media and mobile, email marketing is still the most effective way for e-commerce companies to drive sales online. It is often the central component within digital plans as e-commerce marketers rely on the medium for building relationships and earning revenue

To create relevant messaging using cross channel marketing requires the integration of data across channels, but this integration can be a challenge. Marketing is often organized in different departments across companies, creating silos of data that don't meet.

Direct Marketing News convened a diverse group of email marketing executives in April for an editorial roundtable discussion, sponsored by StrongMail, to talk about several facets of email marketing strategy.

Agencies finished last year with improved revenues and are racing to scoop up new business as marketers begin to shop again. This year, as Direct Marketing News interviewed executives at dozens of the leading firms, the message we heard over and over again was "revenues are back."

While many direct shops simply want to stress their digital acumen over legacy direct channels, Robert Horvath, CEO of Rapp, wants clients to call his firm to lead the strategic thinking around any customer-related issue.

Acxiom Corp. is a giant in the marketing services industry, standing at more than $1 billion in global revenues and serving top-tier clients across the automotive, travel, entertainment, healthcare and technology industries.

Epsilon expects to be a $1 billion marketing services firm by next year, which would put it neck and neck with competitor Acxiom in terms of sales, as well as on par with the size of creative agency giant Wunderman.

Harte-Hanks has turned its financial state around after a couple of tough years. It recently completed its third consecutive quarter of revenue growth. This growth is mostly driven by its marketing units, The Agency Inside Harte-Hanks and its internal direct marketing team.

Expansion was the theme last year at CRM agency Merkle. Expansion was the theme last year at CRM agency Merkle. The Columbia, Md.-based company expanded both its physical footprint and its core offerings through acquisitions and with the opening of its first international office in Shanghai.

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